Axle-lubricating mechanism.



No. 846,056. PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907.

H. W. SANFORD.

AXLE LUBRIGATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1007.

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N: if H4 WITNESSES [NVENTOR 7/// 6 W ifii T N All Y Q orney l rr D STATES PATENT ()FFIOE.

HUGH w. SANFORD, or KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

AXLE-=LUBRI CATING MEOHANiSWl.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 5. 1907.

Application fired January 3,1907. erial No. 350,644.

tate on the axles. Mine-cars are usually of this type, and the application of the improvement to a wheel and axle of such a car is herematter described.

- The object of the invention is to produce a car-wheel which may be easily and cheaply manufactured and which will contain eliicient and convenient means For the lubrication of the portion of the axle which extends .mto the hub surrounding the axle.

.In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1. is an elevation of the outer or front side of a structure embodying my improvement, portions of the Wheel forming a part of the structure being broken away. Fig. 2 is a section on the line? 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of amodification of the outer or front end of the hub.

For convenience in description, the side or portion of the wheel directed away from the car will be herein designated the front side or portion, while the opposite side or portion will be termed the rear side or portion.

In the particular form of the structure shown by said drawings, 1 is one end of a cara-xle'which is secured to a car. 1 An annular locking-groove 2 is formed into the axle near the end of the latter to receive a key-block, as will be hereinafter described. The axle has a bearing-face at each side of said locking-groove, and the hub bears on each of said laces.

*The wheel 3 has a run 4-, spokes 5, and a hub 6. Between its ends the hub is thickened and has in said thickened portion a relatively large annular oil chamber or reservoir 7,' approximately concentric with the hubaxis, such reservoir being separated from the axle 1 by means of a wall 8. From points adjacent said reservoir and rearward of lockinggi'oove and" distributed approxi mately e uidistant from each other around the axle 1 note 9 extend. from the bore of the ,hub into said reservoir. Said reservoir is to the axle 1 and. said ducts 9 made to enter I the rear portion of said reservoir. At its rear said hub is extended a suitable distance to enter a packingbox' 11, containing pack-- ing 12 for preventing the passage of oil and dust. At its opposite end the hub extends continuously over or across the adjacent end of the axle, forming a wall 13, standing at a short distance away from said end'of the axle and leaving a passage 14. From said passage threerelatively small ducts 15 extend obliquely and radially outward away from the axial line of the hub into the'iront portion of the oil-reservoir 7, said ducts being approximately equally distributed around the hub axis. On the axial line of the hub a port 16 extends through said wall 13, said port being oi proper size to receive the nozzle or discharge end of an oil-can for introducing oil into the passage 14, said space being preferably only sul'licient to permit the down ward flow of the oil issuing from the nozzle of an oil-can inserted into said port. The three ducts 15 shown by the drawings be ing distributed equidistant around the hub axis, at least one of said ducts is always lo catcdbelow the level of the port 16 in position to permit the oil to flow by gravity downward from the port 16 through such duct 15 into the lower front portion of the oil chamber or reservoir 7.

Opposite the groove 2 the hub has a recess 17 large enough to receive all of a key-block 18, which is adapted to extend into the annular locking-groove 2. A screw bolt or plug 19 extends through the wall of the hub at each side of said chamber parallel to the hubnxis and through said chamber between said key-block and the outer wall of thehub and holds said key-block in said groove. When the whpel is to be detached, .said screwbolt is removed and the key-block 1.8 allowed to fall completely into the recess 17 when the wheel has been so turned as to bring said recess beneath the axle. Then the wheel is free for removal. The various portions of said hub constitute a one-piece casting.

In operation oil is introduced through the port 16 by inserting the nozzle or spout of an oil-can into said port. A portion of the-oil so introduced spreads through the passage 14 to the end of the axle and over the bearing-face of the axle, which is located in front of the locking-groove, and the remainder of said oil flows through the oblique duct or ducts 15 at passage 9 and extends into the annular reser l voir. When one of the passages 9 is beneath the axle, its piece of absorbent material extends into the oil and by capillary attraction carries oil to the portion of the axle located rearward of the locking-groove. Furthermore, with the rotation of the hub oil is carried upward on the faces of the reservoir and a portion thereof made to flow u on the pieces of absorbent material lO-and Into the passages or ducts 9 when the latter are above the axle. Said pieces of absorbent material may be omitted.

To reduce the tendency of the oil to fiow' into the ducts when the latter are above the axle, each duct is made to enter the reset;

voir 7 at a little distance away from the curved walls of said reservoir, and the por tion or lip of the upright wall between said outer curved wall and the adj acen't end of the duct 15 is laced rearward of the portionof said uprig 1; wall between the end of said duct and the axle,' sjo'tha't oil dripping from said Ii 20 will pass the entrance to the duct 15v an fall upon theinner curved face of the reservoir-7. H p

'Ihe port 16, the passage 14, and theducts 15 may be regarded as a spider-form group of duets leading from the front exterior of the hub to the reservoir? for conducting oil into. said reservoir, and it isto be noted that said duets lead the oil'into said reservoir from a point in frontof the locking-groove, while the reservoir ,diseharges rearward of said groove. At the same time anample supply of oil is received directly from the passage 14 by the portion of the axle in front of the lockinggroove.

1 In Fi s. 1 and 2 the port 16 is open: This i may beleft so in actual use, if desired, for the oil-reservoir 7 is far enough removed from and its lower portion extends far enough be- 1 low the level of said port to ordinarily prevent the discharge of oil through said port,

I plete prevention of escape of oil and the ingress of dust said port may be closed by any wvell-known means, such as a serew-plug 21, as shown in Fig. 3, and it is to be observed that while the structure providesfor the di rect supply of oil to the axle-face at each side of the locking mechanism the structure is at the same time such as to permit the introduction of the oil without turning the Wheel into a particular position and to prevent drainage of the oil when the oil-port is open.

I claim as my invention In a structure of the nature described, an axle having an annular locking-groove and a bearing-face at each side of said groove, a wheel having a hub presenting a bearingface to said axle at each side of saidlockinggroove and having between its ends a reservoir communicating with the bore of the hub rearward of said locking-groove, and said hub extending around and over the end of said axle a short distance away from said end to form apassage, 14, and having a port GPQII. ing into said passage, and having a duct forming communication between said pas- Witnesses:

CYRUs KEHR, C. A. MoRsE.

sage andsaid reservoir, whereby provision is 50 even if the latter is open; but for the com- 

